TruSense Soil Moisture Telemetry
Optimise yield and quality while saving on water, power, fertilisers, and labour.
“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Many farmers have invested heavily in soil moisture sensors and associated equipment but are not realising any significant benefit from this investment.
Aqualinc engineers have a wealth of knowledge in all areas of irrigation – from system design to irrigation management – and this breadth of knowledge enables our customers to maximise their return on their investment in irrigation hardware and monitoring systems.
The key objective of a soil moisture measurement system is to provide farmers and growers with accurate and representative data that helps them optimise yield and reduce operating costs.
To achieve this, the following has to be considered:
-
What type of sensor is most suitable for the application?
-
How many sensors are needed?
-
Where should the sensors be located?
-
How should the sensors be installed?
To answer these questions and provide the most appropriate solution, site research (to determine topographical information, soil type and characteristics) and a site visit is required.
The next two important steps are:
-
To ensure the sensors are installed correctly
-
To ensure the farmer knows how to interpret the data provided by the sensors
Many farmers with soil moisture sensors installed are provided with a nice graph, but without the correct setup and advice this is like driving a car with a faulty speedo – you don’t really know what you’re doing. To irrigate effectively, you need to know the soil moisture (preferably in mm) and what range of soil moisture will provide optimum growth and quality.
An irrigation strategy based on robust soil moisture measurements can provide significant environmental benefits, especially when it comes to reducing the leaching of nutrients into groundwater and waterways. Aqualinc engineers have carried out significant research in this area, and this expertise is available to our customers through the advice we provide, as well as being embedded in our systems.
Aqualinc’s telemetry solutions utilise the latest technology and are based on the 4G network, which provides significant longevity over the many 2G and 3G systems currently in use. These systems can be applied to soil moisture and many other applications, including flow metering, pond level, bore depth, weather stations and so on.
Aqualinc’s telemetry solutions can also be applied to existing sensors, so farmers can benefit from prior ‘under-ground solutions’ investments that may no longer be working due to obsolete or aging telemetry. Soil moisture sensors compatible with the Aqualinc system include:
-
Aquaflex
-
Decagon
-
Meter Group
-
Enviropro
Aqualinc can also provide a full irrigation management service if required.
